Saturday, October 8, 2011

Vegan Mofo Day (oops) 7: Dried Beans

We all know it's even cheaper to buy your beans dried and cook them instead of buying them in cans, but it's still a pain in the butt if you're busy. You have to remember to soak them the day before you actually need them, stick around the kitchen for two hours while they simmer--and then there's the matter of actually using that many beans before they start to get iffy. So this week when I actually soaked and cooked the chickpeas that I bought instead of forgetting about them, I took note of what was done with them. The pound of dried beans made about six cups.

2~ cups: Chickpea Salad
Everyone and their vegan grandma has a chickpea salad recipe for sandwiches and whatnot that they like their own special way. Mine is mayo free (never did care for mayo or vegenaise, and besides it's more lunchbox-friendly without) and has a ton of lemon zest, some mustard, onion, celery and raisins, plus olive oil (a lot) and lemon juice to hold it together. I eat it in paninis or with triscuit-type crackers and veggies for a light bento.

~2 cups: Hummus
My hummus preference is pretty bare bones--I just use a head of roasted garlic instead of a few cloves of fresh.

~2 cups: Falafel
These were baked, and half of them were frozen for later cooking and eating. I actually didn't make them, my friend did, so thank you Jordan.